The Constitutional Monarchy of the UK — Ives

英国社会与文化
结课论文
英语1102班
刘佳辰
2011012471
The Constitutional Monarchy of the
UK
Britain has a long history and lots of famous people. Because there are so many great inventions and discoveries that Britain has made before, there are a lot to say about this country. We can say that Britain take mankind into a new era due to its great achievements. Today, I am going to talk about one of those great achievements, and that is the political system of the UK.
The political system of the UK is constitutional monarchy, a system of government in which a king or queen acts as Head of State, while the ability to make and pass legislation resides with an elected parliament. Contrary to absolutism or absolute monarchy where a monarchy rules with total power, the power of the monarch und er constitutional monarchy is restrained by a parliament, by law or by custom; as in the United Kingd om the Sovereign reigns but does not rule.
To find out the origins of the constitutional monarchy, we have to go back to the time when the leading nobles of England succeed ed in forcing King John to sign the Magna Carta in 1215. Until the end of 17th century, British monarchs were executive monarchs, enjoying the
rights to make and pass legislation.
The real sense constitutional monarchy started from the Glorious Revolution in 1688 and the subsequent Bill of Rights of 1689, which established basic tenets such as the supremacy of parliament. By the reign of George V, the principl e of constitutional monarchy was firmly established in Britain. The constitutional monarchy we know today really devel oped in the 18th and 19th centuries, as day-to-day power came to be exercised by ministers in Cabinet and by Parliaments by a steadily - widening electorate.
In modern Britain, where class and privilege are no l onger as important as they used to be, an institution like monarchy might seem obsolete. However, any serious attempt to abolish the monarchy would meet with violent opposition from all sectors of British society. As a system of government, constitutional monarchy has its strengths. One is that it separates out the ceremonial and official duties of Head of State from party politics. Besides, from the point of view of political power, the main influence of Sovereign is during a political ministry, for Sovereign has three rights: “the right to be consulted, the right to encourage, the right to warn”. A Sovereign would, over the course of a long reign, accumulate far more knowledge and experience than any minister. Even though the Queen could do
nothing to alter Cabinet decisions and never refuses her assent to something she disagrees with because she knows this would be unconstitutional, she sometimes has a definite and beneficial influence on the kind of decisions taken.
More than this, the constitutional monarchy focus, as a long-established tradition, provides a sense of stability, continuity and a national focus, since the Head of State remains the same even as governments and politicians come and go according to el ections won or lost. The Monarch is always there, above party quarrels, representing the nation as a whol e, and lending dignity and significance to all things done in her name. The system bridges the discontinuity in times of political and social change. With more than five decad es of reading State papers, meeting Heads of State and ambassadors and holding a weekly audience with the Prime Minister, The Queen has an unequalled store of experience upon which successive Prime Ministers have been able to draw.
The British Monarchy is the supreme illustration of the way British institutions develop. Violent upheavals are rare. Instead, the existing is slowly modified to suit fresh conditions, until in the end the impossible is achieved—a compl etely new system which still looks exactly like the old. And the pride of the British is that although it is illogical, it works.
That shoul d be all I want to talk about the Constitutional Monarchy of the UK. I just love this country for no reason, if I have a chance I will definitely go there and have a look.。